This week, food safety officials in the United Kingdom ordered testing on all beef products sold in the UK. Just a few weeks earlier, horse and pig DNA had been found in burgers sold by a UK firm called FIndus. Findus said that it had withdrawn it's lasagna products on the market on Monday. Testing showed between 60% and 100% of horsemeat in the lasagna by Findus. These dishes and similar dishes are labeled 100% beef. Companies in Poland, France and Ireland have also begun to take precautions and pull certain dishes for testing that were manufactured by the company.
The UK firms must have tested all their beef products by this coming Friday. Burgers, meatballs and lasagna are also included in the testing. In Sweden, three large food retailers have recalled their lasagna due to suspicions of horsemeat in their products. Horsemeat itself is not considered a health risk, but it could contain the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, or bute, which is commonly used to treat horses. This drug could cause harm when ingested by humans. Producers have also been ordered to test their products for this drug.
Another problem is the pig DNA discovery could cause conflict with Jews and Muslims, where it is against their dietary laws to consume pig products. The products are considered mislabeled which is a big issue because by law, labels are monitored and should be 100% accurate. The horsemeat situation has caused a great uproar from consumers.
This article presents several problems that the horsemeat discovery has caused. The Food and Drug Administration has the duty of monitoring producers, including all labeling of products. Consumers expect accurate labeling on food since it should be closely monitored. The horsemeat situation has caused doubts from consumers towards future products monitored by the FDA. If they could not catch this, then what's next? Consumers have every right to know exactly what they are eating, that is the whole point in food labeling to begin with. It could put everybody's health at risk because of food allergies and bodily reactions to certain foods. The possibility of a fatal drug for humans used to treat horses also raises concerns to consumers. If this drug is in the horsemeat that was produced, it could sicken many consumers who ingested the contaminated food.
Also with this situation comes concern for respecting religious dietary laws. The article stated that pig DNA was found in several products. Dietary laws of Jews and Muslims prohibit consuming pig products. These products were mislabeled and the consumers are those who are affected. Lasagna dishes served in prisons were labeled and served as "halal" which means "prepared in compliance with Islamic dietary law". Jewish dietary law also prohibits consumption of horsemeat so many religions were affected by this situation. Consumers will no doubt be hesitant in the future of what they buy after they have lost trust in food labels. Hopefully this situation will cause food safety monitors to reevaluate their rules of supervision and help them create stricter, more effective ways in monitoring food labels, food products, and their producers.
Jessilyn Bulla
February 10, 2013
5:15 am
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/world/europe/uk-horsemeat-probe/?hpt=zite_zite1_featured
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